The Aspen Commission on No Child Left Behind: Roundtable on English Language Learners Held July 21, 2006

The Aspen Commission on No Child Left Behind held its fourth roundtable discussion on July 21, 2006 in Washington DC. This fourth roundtable was focused on English Language learners. Panel concluded NCLB is working but more needs to be done. From the press release it appears that the specific situation of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians was not addressed. Testimony was reported from what was described as a “diverse group of individuals representing the U.S. Department of Education, local administrators, teachers and organizations who work directly on ELL issues” It appeared from the release that no one addressed issues affecting English language learners for Native Americans particularly as it regards heritage languages particularly in Native language immersion schools or the relationship of other efforts to regain Native Language conversational fluency among American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian populations.

Margarita Pinkos, Deputy for Policy, Office of English Language Acquisition, U.S. Department of Education. “When NCLB passed there were only 11 states that had comprehensive assessments in place for ELL students but as time has gone on, now every state has set standards for ELL students.

Joanne Urrutia, Administrative Director for the Division of Bilingual Education and World Languages at Miami-Dade County Public Schools, discussed the importance of NCLB’s accountability provisions for ELL students. She also stressed that the assessment requirements under NCLB and State and local policies were diverting instructional resources to pay for the costs of these assessments. Lastly, She also discussed the need for states to develop more valid and reliable assessments. Both of these issues the diversion of instructional resources to pay the costs of assessment and the need for more valid and reliable assessments were identified in the National Indian Education Associations Report on NCLB as being significant issues related to the education of American Indians Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. Both of these issues also significantly undercut NCLB’s impact upon it supposed primary intention, the raising of academic achievement. If you don’t have sufficient investment in instructional activities and have invalid and non-reliable assessments the statute is of little value even unto its own purposes.

Another area identified by the NIEA hearings report that of a more accurate definition of AYP was identified by Melissa Lazarin, National Council of La Raza. She pointed out the need for a more accurate definition of adequate yearly progress (AYP) that would better measure the progress and achievement of English language learners (ELLs). And as if she were underscoring an issue identified as being almost more vital to the issue of achievement among of Native Americans, she went on to discuss the need for more accountability for the graduation rates of ELLs.

Though there were some areas such as those listed above as well as the often repeated need for more flexibility the special circumstance of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians was not addressed.

I believe that the Aspen Institute’s Commission on No Child Left Behind given its mission will have significant initial influence in setting the framework for the debate on changing the NCLB statute. It is interesting that this commission is formulated to specifically look at the NCLB statute and not look at the education situation and status of America’s learners such as ground breaking efforts like the Nation at Risk Report. The principal objective of the Commission is in a sense focused on fixing the statute given its essential purpose of increasing student achievement through accountability.

The mission of the Commission is to “analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and will make bipartisan recommendations to Congress, Administration, State and local stakeholders, parents and the general public to ensure that the law is an effective tool in spurring academic achievement and closing the achievement gap”.
The Commission is responsible to collect information, conduct research and study issues related to Federal, State, and local education programs with the goal of recommending policies for improving the academic achievement of all students, reducing the achievement gap between groups of students, and addressing the real and perceived limitations of Federal, State, and local laws, regulations, and administrative actions. The Commission will prepare and submit a report to the public, Congress, and the Administration outlining its findings and recommendations.
I encourage everyone who is interested in American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian education to let the commission know your ideas and opinions regarding NCLB. You can email the Commission with your ideas and opinions and learn about Commissions activities at the Commission’s web page linked below

Relevant Links
Commission on No Child Left Behind - Aspen Institute